Driving around, past the park, down side streets, finally discovering a parking spot, not only on a pretty side street, but partially in the shade. Ureka! Park the car, grab the photo gear, lock up and wonder exactly how far I am from Washington Park. People swarming around, coming and going to the park, pushing babies in strollers, skating, riding bikes, carrying packages of treats purchased from vendors at the Tulip Festival.
I arrived in Albany at about 1:45 on Sunday, Mother's Day, thinking that things would have been slowing down and there wouldn't be too many people wandering around. The joke was on me. There were gobs of people. The Festival was open until 6 pm, and it was still going very strong at 2 pm. It was fun walking around looking at all the vendors. Fortunately I didn't have any interest in buying anything, so I wasn't tempted. I was basically there to see a friend of mine from the photo club who had a booth set up.
I finally found him and his wife, and happily sat down to talk with them for a while. Jim is a wildlife photographer and has made several trips to Alaska and an eagle wildlife refuge to photograph his subjects.
After resting for a while, I wandered back to where the flowers are and decided that since I made the trip down to Washington Park, I would at least try and get some pictures even though there were people all over. I tried a different approach--sticking the camera into the clumps of tulips and shooting up. It was tricky and not too many of them came out good, but it was interesting and I like some of the results.
Two days later at the soccer game and again people swarming around, some sitting in portable chairs, others wielding cameras, bottles of water, pushing strollers, chasing toddlers, talking with one another while watching their son/daughter/grandchild, run after the ball. One little guy just stood on the field sucking his thumb and watching his team mates run in the other direction. A couple of others decided they needed a break and they just sat down at the edge of the field to watch their teams. The sun was shining and casting that beautiful yellow glow that happens as it gets lower in the sky before sunset.
Lauren spent her time playing by running up and down the field, running off the field to her mom and me, asking for a hug, a drink, a rest. She's quite the performer--arms swinging, clasping over her head, behind her back, bending over in mock fatigue, engaging the coaches in some sort of conversation.
Jacob on the other hand, seemed a little more focused. He stayed right on the field the whole time of his game, except for assigned breaks.
Looking forward to another nice afternoon so I can watch them play again.
Aloha
No comments:
Post a Comment